Plastic covered the jailhouse bathroom while workers cleaned up sewage after a burst pipe over the weekend caused thousands of dollars in damage and cleanup costs. One police officer was struck by sewage during the incident. less

Plastic covered the jailhouse bathroom while workers cleaned up sewage after a burst pipe over the weekend caused thousands of dollars in damage and cleanup costs. One police officer was struck by sewage during ... more

Photo: John Nickerson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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A sewage pipe in the ceiling of the jailhouse at police headquarters burst over the weekend, causing thousands of dollars in damage and cleanup costs. One police officer was struck by sewage during the incident. less

A sewage pipe in the ceiling of the jailhouse at police headquarters burst over the weekend, causing thousands of dollars in damage and cleanup costs. One police officer was struck by sewage during the ... more

Photo: John Nickerson / Hearst Connecticut Media

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The bathroom for the police department's west locker room on the second-floor is closed after a pipe carrying sewage from bathroom leaked out of a first floor pipe that burst in the jailhouse area over the weekend. less

The bathroom for the police department's west locker room on the second-floor is closed after a pipe carrying sewage from bathroom leaked out of a first floor pipe that burst in the jailhouse area over the ... more

Photo: John Nickerson / Staff

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Signs warning of asbestos posted throughout the Stamford Police Station in Stamford, Conn., Dec. 12, 2014.

Signs warning of asbestos posted throughout the Stamford Police Station in Stamford, Conn., Dec. 12, 2014.

STAMFORD — While city officials appear committed to spending millions on a new police headquarters in next few years, the crumbling building now at 805 Bedford St. still has its fangs in the city budget.

Mayor David Martin was scheduled to ask the Planning Board for an emergency allotment of $100,000 Tuesday night to repair a leaking pipe that led to the evacuation of the recently renovated Youth Bureau.

“It is a lot of money to fix a water leak,” Martin said early Tuesday during a visit to the decrepit building. “I can tell you we are very unhappy about it. But it is a priority to keep this place safe.”

The leak, one of several problems, has caused a stinking mold problem in the bureau, which was rebuilt in 2012 to comply with a state law that requires juveniles to be separated from adult prisoners

The bureau’s closure displaced 15 cops and civilian staff who now work out of a converted 10-by-17-foot closet. Juvenile detainees are now “warehoused” as they are handcuffed to arm chairs in a first-floor hallway, police officials said.

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Over the New Year’s holiday weekend, a cast iron pipe burst in a jailhouse bathroom, causing thousands more in asbestos abatement and sewage cleanup costs, as well as fees to repair the pipe itself.

Police union President Sean Boeger said an officer was struck by falling sewage coming from the bathrooms in an upstairs locker room.

During his visit to discuss the 60-year-old building’s travails on Tuesday, Martin said he was generally unhappy about the amount of money being put into a structure that is slated to be torn down once a new headquarters is constructed at the corner of Bedford and North streets in the next few years.

Before workers can get to fixing the leaking pipe under the Youth Bureau, they will first have to abate mold and asbestos in the crawl space area where the pipe is located.

“There are still some people who do not understand the crisis we are having with this building,” Martin said. “Even though we really don’t want to stay in the building, it is probably going to cost us close to $100,000 to keep this space habitable for our police officers and for the various public that use that space.”

Fearing health problems

Over the past year, officers who serve in the building have angrily termed their working conditions as “a disgrace,” “deplorable” or much worse. Chief Jon Fontneau said he wants his officers out of the building as fast as possible.

Since an asbestos problem throughout the building came to light in late 2014, almost every man and woman with a badge filed notices with the state Worker's Compensation Commission saying they may claim compensation for cancers and illnesses caused by asbestos.

Boeger said tests performed on dusty surfaces from around the department last year, paid for by the union, showed “alarming levels of asbestos.” He said the current policy around headquarters was to let fallen dust lie in hopes of not disturbing it and putting it back into the air.

Air samples taken in the building do not indicate a danger to workers there. Regardless, he said, “This building has outrun its usefulness and its life course.”

Martin said the city was moving as fast as possible to build a new police department.

“The pace is never fast enough for me and I am confronted with people who want to slow things down, until they get what they want.” Martin said. “I want to move into a new police building as rapidly as possible because we can’t avoid these types of expenses.”

Construction of a new department is slated to result in the removal of the nearby Hoyt-Barnum House, a historic structure that would be relocated in the city. Supporters of the house have been trying to force alternate plans that would save the house, the oldest one in Stamford.

A sitting danger

Boeger and others predicted nothing good could come of having juveniles under arrest sitting handcuffed to chairs in a common hallway.

“There is nothing stopping them from standing up and swinging the chair around. It is not the safest condition,” he said. When the bureau was renovated in 2012, it had four small jail cells constructed for its young prisoners, and a bench youths could be cuffed to.

Since the bureau closed on Nov. 14, commanding Sgt. Joseph Kennedy said about 20 youths have been shackled to free-standing metal chairs in the hallway next to the detective bureau.

“Somebody is going to get hurt, big time,” Kennedy said. “ We are dealing with teenagers from under 18 to 13. Some of these kids get to be six feet and weigh 200 to 215 pounds. There are a lot of mental health issues that fall to my guys. We have had two to three times in the past month where six or seven kids were out here in the hallway at one time.”

Kennedy said the bureau was actually breaking state law by keeping juveniles in the hall, but there was nowhere else to put them.

“”These are the kids that are problematic," he said. “If this were a kindergarten class, my mold issue would be gone, right? I don’t understand why it’s not gone now.’